The field of invention is photography, and more specifically printing photographic images from data provided by a customer.
The field of photography has evolved quickly in the past decade. Many people now take photographs with digital cameras, rather than traditional film-based cameras. The resultant digital images may be easily placed onto a web page and sent to friends and family via electronic mail. However, many people wish to have physical prints of their photos, in order to frame or display them, or view them at a location away from their computer. While special printers may be used to print digital photographic images onto paper at the expected resolution of a photograph and in standard photographic sizes, the cost of these printers place them out of reach of most individuals. Individuals can take or transmit their photographic data to a central location having a printer, but then face a delay before prints are available. The length of the delay is typically not precisely known in advance, which can discourage a potential customer from printing a digital photographic image.
A standalone kiosk accepts photographic data from a customer for printing one or more photographs from that photographic data.
In an aspect of a preferred embodiment, the kiosk estimates the amount of time required to generate physical prints of the photographic data, and displays that time estimate to the customer.
In another aspect of a preferred embodiment, the kiosk establishes a connection with a wireless communications device carried by the customer and notifies the customer when the printed photographs are complete, so that the customer need not wait by the kiosk during the printing process.